


how many sleepless, lonely nights? | tenrose reunion!fic

by no_mourners_no_funerals



Series: we’re all stories in the end / doctorxrose [4]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Bad Wolf Rose Tyler, F/M, Reunion!fic, Rose Returns, Rose is a time lady, TenRose - Freeform, Time Lady Rose, Time Lord Rose Tyler, after the midnight train, bad wolf leaves a message, holograms, i refuse to accept the journeys end, no river!bashing, river is here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-15
Updated: 2019-05-16
Packaged: 2020-03-05 23:28:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18838957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/no_mourners_no_funerals/pseuds/no_mourners_no_funerals
Summary: Donna finds a gallery with photos of a mysterious woman. The Doctor plays an old hologram and finds something that shouldn't be there. Bad Wolf returns.title and chapter titles are inspired by "boomerang" by imagine dragons





	1. how many times, said i'm moving on?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> part 1/4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tell me if you like it (if not, please some constructive criticism would be nice)

Donna was bloody tired after their adventure in the Library. She said ' _Goodnight_ ' to the Doctor and went to her room. After a while, she found herself definitely not where she supposed to be. She was almost yelling ' _Spaceman!_ ' till she looked closer at where she was.

It was a corridor with two doors at the end. But that wasn't the shocking thing. The walls were full of pictures.

Polaroid pictures.

She couldn't help her curiosity. What were pictures made by Earth technology doing on Spaceman's spaceship? She looked at the one closest to her.

It showed two people, a young blonde and a man dressed in a leather jacket. They were standing on sort of an observation deck, a planet which she recognised as Earth behind them, with a unnaturally big Sun.

_Who were these people?_

She moved to the next photo.

This time, it was only the blonde woman, in a Victorian dress, looking in awe at something behind the TARDIS door.

Next photo.

The man in the leather jacket in front of a destroyed Big Ben, not looking at the camera, obviously he didn't know about the picture being taken.

Next.

The blonde drinking a smoothie in front of a foreign-looking bar, large numbers 139 on the wall behind it.

Next.

The blonde with an older, also blonde woman. The blonde laughing as the older one obviously scolded the person behind the camera.

Next.

The man in the leather jacket dancing with the blonde girl around the Tardis console.

Next.

The leather-jacket-man, a dark-skinned man and a handsome brunet, were sitting around a table in a restaurant and laughing their heads off.

Next.

The leather-jacket-man and the blonde standing under enormous frozen waves.

 _"Beautiful_ ," she thought.

Next.

Another picture of the older blonde, this time saying something to the leather-jacket-man who looked a bit uncomfortable.

Next.

That's when the pictures with the Doctor started.

First, the Doctor in jim-jams and a dressing gown was hugging the dark-skinned-man and the younger blonde.

Next, the Doctor in a paper crown, the older blonde and the dark-skinned man on Christmas.

Donna frowned. The first time she met him, two years ago, he said that a year earlier he spent Christmas with a friend and her family.

" _Her name was Rose._ "

Oh, she'd been so daft. _This_ , the young blonde, was Rose! And the older one was her mother probably.

_Oh._

Remembering the Doctor saying that he lost her, she suddenly felt like in a museum, looking at a memorial.

She moved on to the next photo with hesitation.

Rose and the Doctor, sitting on his long coat on the grass, the TARDIS in the back. They were both blushing a bit.

Donna smiled sadly. She could see he loved her so much and how much losing her hurt him now. She could see the pain in his eyes sometimes, the same pain she saw when she showed him Rose's abandoned jacket those two years ago. She recognised it now.

She moved to the next photo.

Rose on the sofa in the library, grinning as widely as she could, holding up a piece of paper with the familiar now, circular writing.

She wondered what was written there.

Next.

The Doctor and Rose hugging beneath the same enormous frozen waves, starlight shining in their eyes.

Next, an obviously sneaked shot of Rose and a woman she identified as Queen Victoria. Donna's jaw dropped.

She moved to the next one.

Rose was laughing her head off, the Doctor's screwdriver in her hand, in a computer room with a older woman with brown hair who was laughing as hard as Rose was, while a metal dog-thing stood by the older woman's leg.

Next, a shot of the Doctor shouting at a horse on what looked like a spaceship.

Donna giggled and sniffed.

Next, two photos in one frame.

The Doctor on a scooter, helmet on his head and aviators on his nose, and Rose in a pink dress, denim jacket, pink heels and 60's style sunglasses, smiling brightly.

Next, a shot of Rose and the Doctor under what looked like a... black hole? Wow.

Next.

A shot of the Doctor in a orange spacesuit, hugging Rose tightly. The blonde woman was crying.

Next.

The Doctor spinning Rose around in a middle of a street, laughing.

Next.

Rose looking at flying stingrays. This photo had tear traces on it and a smudged writing saying: "Forever".

And then, the last photo.

Rose in 3D glasses, looking fascinated as she watched her hand, while her mother, the dark-skinned man and two other men looked confused.

Donna guessed that it was the last time they had an opportunity to take a picture. A tear slipped down her cheek and she wiped it angrily. This was it. She felt that she needed to talk to the Doctor about Rose. She knew it will be painful, but she also knew that he had to get it out. She wiped her eyes again and went where she came from, as the corridor was a dead end.

After a few minutes, she found the control room.

"Well, that was surprisingly easy," she muttered.

The Doctor, as usually, was under the console, tinkering. Did that man ever sleep?

She sighed.

She knew she had to start the conversation.

"Oi, Spaceman, your bloody ship's enormous! I got lost and..."

She was cut off by the Doctor sucking his breath as he hit his head hard, trying to get out.

"What happened? And since when you can get lost in the TARDIS? What's wrong?"

Donna grunted irritated that her plan on going smoothly collapsed. The Doctor frowned, sitting on the jump seat.

"What?" he said.

"I got lost. And I found a corridor."

The Doctor paled.

 _Ah_.

He suspected which 'corridor' she found. He slowly turned himself to the TARDIS rotor.

"Why did you lead her there? She couldn't have found it by herself."

Donna looked weirded out. The TARDIS led her there? Why? And how?

"Your ship can move things around?" she asked incredulously.

The Doctor nodded, distracted, obviously listen to what the TARDIS was saying. At last he sighed and put his head in his hand.

"Maybe you're right."

Donna guessed he was still talking to the ship. Then, he patted the place next to him on the seat. She sat there, waiting for what he had to say.

"I guess you saw the photos."

"Yeah. I didn't go anywhere else, though."

The Doctor chuckled sadly.

"I know. The TARDIS has some limits, she wouldn't let you anywhere further."

Donna nodded and waited for him to continue. It was a bit unlike her, but the situation was different. She knew it was hard for him.

"The blonde girl on the photos was Rose. Rose Tyler. My... well, friend doesn't cover that."

And he told her the story of his pink and yellow human, the Bad Wolf, Defender of the Earth. He told her about how met her, about every single one of their adventures and eventually, how he lost her. How she got trapped in the parallel universe, they both feeling the pain of the broken telepathic bond. It was an accident, a leftover of the Bad Wolf, when he took the Vortex out of her.

Donna sat there, shocked. She didn't know what to say.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know."

The Doctor sighed and smiled sadly.

"Yeah, you didn't. But the TARDIS wanted me to tell you. She said that it will make me feel a bit better and that you deserve to know."

The Doctor left out the fact, that the TARDIS also reminded him about Rose's meeting with Sarah Jane Smith, when Rose was hurt that she didn't know there were companions before her. She wouldn't want to be forgotten. Not that he ever would. Donna looked at him sympathetically.

"Did it? Help I mean."

The Doctor smiled sadly once again.

"A bit. But it will always hurt."

He jumped out of the seat and started tinkering with the controls, doing... something, she didn't know what.

"Go to sleep, Donna," he said, pausing his actions for a second.


	2. how many times, that false alarm goes off?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> part 2/4  
> the mystery hologram

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> feelings?

When Donna left, he stopped running around. He slowly moved to the screen.

He took a deep breath. He hadn't done it in a while, mainly because of Donna and Martha earlier.

He pressed several buttons, skipping through the information on the screen until he found it.

"Activate Bad Wolf Protocol."

The TARDIS hummed in his mind. 

_Voice recognition - The Doctor. Activating Bad Wolf Protocol._

Bad Wolf Protocol was a message left by Rose, a hologram she created with the help of the TARDIS.

The hologram appeared, standing before the console.

Rose.

His breath hitched. He wanted to touch her so badly. Still, ' _just an image, no touch_ ' he quoted himself. The recording started to play.

"Hello, My Doctor. If Tardis activated this message... Well, it probably means that something bad happened to me. It's set to play when I'm no longer able to come back home."

 _Home._ It always astonished him. The devotion to him. His companions always left him but Rose wouldn't. Rose would never leave if she had another choice. The hologram continued.

"I want you to know something Doctor. I love you. I always have and I always will, nothing can change that."

 _Oh, Rose, I love you too. So much._ Tears slipped down his cheeks.

"And, Doctor, please. Whatever happened, it's not your fault. I know you would never let me die, not if there was another solution. It's not on your conscience. Don't let the guilt overpower you. And..."

The hologram turned her head. He knew it was hard for Rose when she recorded it.

"Find someone, Doctor. You know being alone is the worst option for you. Find a friend... maybe someone you love?"

Rose was now crying too.

"Even if it isn't me. I love you but don't let it block you to others. You don't owe me anything. You showed me the stars, different ways of living your life, you gave me so much. I'm honoured to be a person you trusted. I am... was... the happiest person in the universe, travelling with you. To love you is the least thing I can do for you."

Oh, Rose.

"Live on, Doctor, but remember me. Don't guilt trip yourself, don't anybody else do that either, but remember me. Remember that even you don't think that, you are truly the best person in the universe. I love you."

That's where the recording ended. Oh, he loved her so much. How could she think that he could feel anything like that to a different person? He sat on the jump seat and sobbed. He hated himself a bit for that but at this point he had no control over his tears.

Then, he heard a voice he wished to never hear again.

"And remember the Big Bad Wolf, Doctor. She creates herself and can never be destroyed."

The distorted, booming, metallic voice of the Bad Wolf sounded from the hologram. But this part was never there. He looked at the hologram, the hologram that shouldn't be still there. The image changed. Rose's... no, Bad Wolf's eyes glowed gold and her hair was floating around her, like there was no gravity at all. He thought that he finally lost it. The grief, the gaping hole in his mind finally destroyed his sanity.

He didn't notice when Donna came running, woken up by Bad Wolf's powerful voice. She was just starting to rant, when she noticed what was happening. The Doctor with his head in his hands was rocking on the floor of the TARDIS, near an image of a distorted Rose.

Donna shook her head.

_What the hell was happening?_

The woman continued.

"Bad Wolf can never be destroyed, Doctor. I am the most powerful being of the universe. I can change Time, for I am Time, I see every atom of existence, for I am in every one of them, I can bring down walls of dimensions, but I would never destroy the universe I was born in, I would never kill the one who created me. I am everywhere Doctor, for I _am_ everything. Don't lose hope and remember the Big Bad Wolf. The one who created me isn't lost forever."

With these words, Bad Wolf smiled and disappeared in a soft golden glow.

The Doctor didn't seem to notice Donna yet. He was still sitting on the floor, head in hands, sobbing.

Donna just decided to ask what happened and who was that, when the Doctor stood up and started to hit the TARDIS's console.

"Why? Why it's so hard? I'm losing my mind, TARDIS! What. Did. I. Do?!" he shouted.

Donna was worried sick. _Who the hell was that woman and what did she do to the Doctor?_

"Doctor?" she called softly.

He froze and slowly turned around.

"Oh no," he whispered.

He didn't want to see him like this, insane and in tears. He never cried this much. Never did he lost his mind too. But now, Donna will leave. And he'll be alone, once again. He slid to the ground, not able to breathe normally, his respiratory bypass kicking in. It didn't change a lot. Donna ran to him. She stroked his arm and told him to breathe, to let it all out. It took him ten following minutes to calm down himself completely.

"Why didn't you go?" he asked quietly.

Donna looked at him surprised.

"Why should I?"

The Doctor looked at her weirdly, 'it's-obvious' written in his face.

" 'Cause I'm going insane? I just almost had a panic attack because of an hallucination?"

Donna frowned.

"How did the hallucination looked like?"

Doctor looked at her, not understanding where she was going with this.

"Like Bad Wolf. Looks like Rose, but has gold eyes. And speaks really loudly."

Donna shook her head.

"It wasn't a hallucination, Doctor."

Doctor looked at her, entirely confused.

"What do you mean it wasn't? It's impossible."

Donna smiled.

"It is. Her voice woke me up."

"Oh, sorry Donna, I'm so sorry, I didn't know something like that would happen."

He put his head in his hands once again. Donna frowned.

"What do you mean?"

A while of silence passed, before the Doctor slowly answered.

"Rose left me a recording. A hologram. I listen to it from time to time. This time, when the recording finished, Bad Wolf appeared. It was never supposed to happen, I was sure that I destroyed her. It's impossible."

He sighed.

"And who is she, exactly?" Donna asked.

"I told you how Rose absorbed the Time Vortex, right? She became Bad Wolf. The pure Time which is the Time Vortex, along with Rose's humanity created a powerful, but in her ruthlessness surprisingly _human_ entity. A human had never before even had _contact_ with the Vortex. It would kill anyone, theoretically. No one tested it. I have truly no idea _how_ she was created, but you heard her. Apparently she can't be destroyed."

They were sitting on the floor, backs to the console, for the next ten minutes before any of them said anything.

"You said that Rose created her," Donna said.

"Yes."

"And now she is in a different dimension."

"Yes... I suppose you can call it that."

"Didn't you hear what the Bad Wolf said? _I can bring down the walls of dimensions, but I would never destroy the universe I was born in, I would never kill the one who created me._ Wait. How the hell did _I_ remember all of that? _"_

The Doctor looked at her, now recalling the speech in his mind.

"Bad Wolf's telepathic. She seared the message into our heads. _I am everywhere Doctor, for I_ am _everything. Don't lose hope and remember the Big Bad Wolf. The one who created me isn't lost forever_."

He also recalled what the mysterious River Song said when she told him he can trust her. Two words. Following him everywhere. _Bad Wolf._

He inhaled sharply.

"But... that's impossible," he said with awe.

Donna smiled.

"So is the Bad Wolf, Doctor. As you said."

The Doctor smiled tightly. Still, he didn't want to get hurt again. He would try to discover what Bad Wolf meant, but he couldn't let himself hope. When hope is taken away, nothing is left, and he didn't think he could survive something like that the second time.

Donna, seeing he was starting to drift away in his mind, reminded him of something.

"For God's sake, I need sleep and you almost had a bloody panic attack, so you need it too and don't you dare argue with me on this."

The Doctor looked quite intimidated, like a little kid, scolded by his mother.

"TARDIS?" Donna asked to thin air, she remembered that the Doctor said the ship was sentient. "Flash lights once for yes, twice for no. Can you shock him or something, if he wants to get to the console? Or do anything that isn't sleeping or whatever you Marsians do."

The TARDIS flashed the lights once.

Yes.

Donna grinned.

"Thanks, TARDIS."

The Doctor looked a bit defeated. Two of four most intimidating women (or kind-of-women) he has ever met, just ganged up on him. Well, he didn't stood a chance.

"Okay," he grunted.

Donna smirked.

"Well, Goodnight, I guess."

And off she was.


	3. how many tears, do we have to cry?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> part 3/4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> feelings?

They were walking back to the TARDIS. The Doctor was oddly quiet, but after what happened on the Midnight train Donna didn't question it. The Doctor was rubbing his head, once in a while.

It hurt all the time.

But with the bond broken _and_ the entity taking over his mind, it was just killing him. He staggered a bit when he was entering the TARDIS. Donna shot him a concerned glance. He brushed it away with a smile. After reassuring her that he was, in fact, okay, she reluctantly retreated to her room.

He sighed.

He threw his coat on one of the coral pillars, and hesitated. He pushed a lever but nothing happened. The TARDIS didn't let him enter the Vortex as usually. The Time Rotor started moving.

_Where are you taking me?_

There was no thump but the TARDIS gave him a mental nudge towards the door. He opened it slowly.

The Medusa Cascade.

She left them floating over the Medusa Cascade. Why did she do that? The Doctor sighed but didn't complain, his head hurt too much. He extended the oxygen field and sat on the doorstep, legs drifting in space. He watched the nebula, wishing that Rose was here with him. He wanted to look once again in her beautiful hazel eyes, hear her ramble about some alien she met, teach her Gallifreyan, sit with her in the library, drink tea with her, feel her emotions through the bond. He would let himself be slapped a thousand times by Jackie, just to see an inch of her blond hair. 

He sat like that for hours, propped up on the doors, ignoring the cold and the excruciating pain in his mind. He might he dozed off for a couple of minutes.

He heard something clatter behind him. Maybe it was Donna. Maybe something fell of the console. He didn't care at the moment. 

He felt a hand on his shoulder. So it was Donna.

"Go back to sleep, Donna."

The hand didn't move away.

Maybe he was hallucinating again. He used to do that, during the months right after she fell. Imagining that she was still here, not a universe away. Maybe Bad Wolf and the Midnight train renewed these images. He turned his head and sighed at the sight.

Hallucinations. Rose stood behind him, her hand on his shoulder, a sad expression on her face. He looked at the nebula again.

"Fantastic. First Bad Wolf, then Midnight and now I'm losing my mind again."

He felt something wet on his hand. He frowned. How bad was his mind if the hallucinations were so realistic?

"I'm real, Doctor. I'm here." 

His head snapped back with a deeper frown. That never happened before. Then who was it?

"Okay, so who are you? 'Cause sure as hell my hallucinations didn't talk before." He stood up and shut the door. "Get on with it or get out, I'm not in the mood for anymore alien threats today. And why this form? You took it from my thoughts?"

The person was crying now. He moved past, throwing the hand off his shoulder. He made just two steps before stopping abruptly. 

"What? What are  _you_ doing here? Her form I understand, but yours?"

Leaning on the TARDIS' console was... River Song. She scoffed.

"Think about it."

The Doctor shook his head. He refused to believe that. She wasn't there, it was just another trick of his mind. He heard muffled sobs from behind him. No. He didn't want anymore false hope. But... When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth as Sherlock said. He fought with the hope rising in his chest, but slowly gave in and turned around. 

"Rose?" he whispered.

She nodded through her tears, her mascara leaving black stains on her cheeks. Her eyes were puffed and red but still that unmistakable hazel. Her hair was still blond. She looked exactly the same. He closed his eyes, reaching for the last confirmation in his mind. His head was still hurting like hell, but... he could feel it. The tiny thread of the bond, reaching to the person before him. Tears started to gather in his eyes.

"Rose," he repeated.

He extended his hand to her. He slowly cupped her face. 

"My Rose."

He slammed into her, sobbing. Three years without her and now she was back. Real. Home. Similar thoughts ran through her head. He’s alive. I’m home. I’m with him. 

They broke away for a second. The Doctor looked at her face and his gaze lingered on her lips.

”Oh, to hell with that,” he said and kissed her. 

It wasn’t like in those old romances with rose petals in the middle of summer and birds chirping around. Tears were trickling down both of their faces, mascara running in streaks, but it was beautiful. It was perfect. And they had each other.

The Doctor rested his forehead on hers. He inhaled deeply and hesitated for a second.

”Time to finish that sentence, I guess.” He paused. “Rose Tyler, I love you too.”

A muffled sob escaped from her throat.

”Quite right too,” she quoted him. 

The Doctor let out an affronted sound through his tears.

”Oh, Rose.” 

He tried to reach out to her mind on instinct. A bolt of pain pierced through his head.

”Ahhhh!” he whimpered and broke away from Rose, bringing his hands to his temples.

Rose looked at him in alarm.

”Doctor? What’s happening?”

The pain only lasted for a few seconds. When it passed, the Doctor breathed in deeply before answering.

”The broken bond. And... I might’ve had an unpleasant encounter with a powerful telepathic entity today.” He rubbed his forehead.

Rose didn’t think long. She raised her hands to his temples and looked at him with a question in he eyes. He looked at her, slightly shocked.

”Are you sure? Do you really want to do it? This bond will be real, unbreakable,” he said.

”I’ve never been more sure about anything in my life.”

He raised his own hands. He looked her in the eye.

”I love you.”

 The hands touched their respective temples. Their eyes slammed shut, as the bond began to weave back and strengthen itself. They both gasped at the sudden lack of pain they felt for three years. The Doctor rested his forehead on hers once again. He loved her so much and he started to sense the same emotion in her mind. He exhaled deeply as the pain from Midnight eased too. 

Their minds  _radiated_ with their love for each other and River sensed it from far away. She smiled proudly, stroking bits of the console. Oh, they were so smitten with each other. Her Wolf and her Doctor. Her family.


	4. i know i'll see you tomorrow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> aaaaaand part 4/4 !!!

Donna woke up to the sounds of the Doctor exclaiming loudly, saying something she didn't quite get. She grumbled under her nose. She wasn't going to have a full-night sleep these days, will she? She stumbled out of her bed, put on a nightgown and walked to the console room.

As she walked in, she stopped dead, shook her head, pinched herself, rubbed her eyes, but the impossible sight was still before her. That woman - River Song, she remembered - was standing beside the TARDIS console, stroking it.

But that wasn't the impossible thing.

The Doctor and... Rose? How the hell did she get here?

Nevermind, what the hell were they doing?

Hands on their temples and _glowing_ with a gold light she only once ever seen before. Knowing that whatever they were doing, River would probably have the answers, she walked up to her.

"Professor Song."

"Oh, I'll be a professor! How exciting! Hello, Donna Noble!"

Donna remembered the strange way River lived through things.

"What are they doing? And how the hell Rose is here?"

River smiled.

"They're recreating the broken bond. It hurt them both and now they can finally be together. Rose jumped through dimensions, with a help from a friend. The Bad Wolf."

Donna smiled, remembering the situation from just a few days ago.

"Bad Wolf. _I can bring down the walls of dimensions, but I would never destroy the universe I was born in, I would never kill the one who created me._ "

River looked at her, smiling the whole time. Both of them looked at the Doctor and Rose. The light faded, and they broke away from each other. Rose looked into Doctor's eyes.

 _I love you, s_ he said telepathically.

_**I** **love you too, my pink and yellow human** _ _._

Rose looked away for a second.

_About that... I'm not human anymore, Doctor. Bad Wolf changed my physiology. I'm a Time Lady._

The Doctor sucked in a sharp breath. He was silent for a minute, looking at her in shock. Then, he grinned with his crazy grin Rose loved. She responded with her own grin.

 _ **Forever?**_  he asked.

_Forever._

Donna cleared her throat. River chuckled at that. Doctor groaned and turned to his companion.

"A second, Donna, just a second? And shouldn't you be sleeping?"

Donna smirked. Rose guessed that she was the Doctor's current companion and started wondering how long has she been gone from this universe.

_**Two or three years. Depends how you count. I hope you know that I could never forget you, right? And I could never fall in love with someone else, to answer your recording** _ _._

Rose smiled.

_I'm glad you found someone, Doctor. You shouldn't be alone._

Donna answered the Doctor's previous question.

"And sleep through something like that? You found Rose, or rather from what I hear here-" she pointed at River "- she found you! I'd like to meet her, since I only know her from story and I sure hope she has some interesting ones about you, Spaceman!"

Rose laughed.

_I like her._

Then, a wave of nostalgia swept over her.

_You told her about me?_

Doctor looked at her in understanding. Sarah Jane Smith.

_**Of course I did, Rose. Though it was more the TARDIS's idea. It still hurt to talk about you, love** _ _._

She smiled sadly in understanding. It was hard for her too. She turned to Donna.

"Of course I have! Wanna hear about that time he got slapped by my mum? Or the one he brought me home twelve months too late? Or maybe the one when he got his hand cut off? Countless possibilities. Hope you have some too."

She winked at Donna. Donna, River and Rose laughed, while the Doctor, to hide his embarrassment, walked up to the console and pulled something from behind.

"This hand?"

Rose jumped from surprise.

"It's _the_ hand? You mean the Sycorax one? Where the hell have you found it?"

She laughed, but stopped when he seemed to think what to tell her.

_**Jack** _ _._

Rose gasped.

_He's alive? I thought he was killed on the game station!_

The Doctor sighed and swiped his hand down his face.

_**He was. But when you became the Bad Wolf, you brought him back** _ _**.** _

Rose sensed there was something more. She cautiously asked.

_And why did we leave him?_

We.

She said 'we'.

_**Not 'we'. I did. What do you remember?** _

_Not much, just glimpses. I think it will return after a while, but now just that._

The Doctor sighed again and rubbed his forehead, this time more from nervousness than pain. Donna looked from one to another and asked River quietly:

"What's going on?"

 "Telepathic conversation. They do that when they're alone, or far away from each other, or, like in this case probably, they discuss personal things or sensitive subjects. Don't worry, they'll always talk when you're there, unless you really shouldn't hear it." River answered calmly.

Donna relaxed. But the hand was the Doctor's? And why was it a sensitive subject, if Rose joked about it just minutes ago? Meanwhile, the telepathic conversation continued.

**_When you brought back Jack, you couldn't control Bad Wolf's power. You brought him back for good. He's almost immortal. Well, he dies and wakes up like it's nothing, but one day he'll die for good. I was there, I'll tell you later. So, he's immortal. A fixed point in time. A_ living _fixed point. It was just impossible. We're Time Lords. We can sense fixed points, like... Jesus' birth. But a living fixed point is never supposed to happen. I could feel it, inside my head, a pounding_ paradox. ** _**When I took the Vortex from you, I was dying. The regeneration could have went so much worse if Jack was in the TARDIS. That's why I left him. But he found the hand and tracked me down**. _

_Oh, Doctor._

Rose walked up to him and hugged him.

_I sense you have something more to drop, so go on, shoot._

_**He's the Face of Boe**. _

Rose let go of the Doctor in shock.

"He's _who_?!" she asked out loud.

Donna was confused, but the looks on their faces were great. She remembered the Doctor talking about a camera that TARDIS has.

"Take a photo, TARDIS," she whispered. She heard a quiet click and silently thanked the ship. Meanwhile, the Doctor was laughing. Rose still in the same shocked position.

"Let me repeat. Captain Jack Harkness, the flirt of the millenium, the 51st century Jack, the immortal guy and a guy who kissed you if you don't remember, is the freaking _Face of Boe_? A giant face? A bilions year old person, who some people call one of the wisest beings in the universe? _That_ Face of Boe?"

The Doctor nodded, still laughing. Rose started to laugh too. It seemed so unpropable. Then, she grinned widely.

"Then let's meet our old, _really_ old friend, the immortal man, the living paradox!"

She jumped and started to flick the switches on the console, winking at River, who immediately helped her throw the TARDIS into the Vortex.

Donna just stood there confused about what the hell happened with her life during the past few hours.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anoshe.


End file.
